Third Battle of El Alamein
November 10th, 2552 The Battle of Earth rages on as UNSC Forces suffer mounting losses at the hands of the Covenant. Most of their forces are concentrated in Eastern Africa with the remainder spread across the world, one such location was El Alamein in Egypt. UNSC Forces in Egypt have been forced to the coastline as Covenant armor sweeps across the desert cutting a swathe through UNSC troops and fleeing civilians as they try to cut off escape routes. One of the last major evac zones was in Cairo and the only thing stopping the Covenant from achieving a complete encirclement of the city is the UNSC Garrison in El Alamein. With the sun rising over the battlescarred desert, vague shapes of the Marine Force Recon can be made out as they returned to the garrison at El Alamein. As they enter the town the extent of their losses became clear, the vehicles are billowing smoke as they struggled to make it to the garage, while the Marines are in no better condition as many are covered in shrapnel and plasma burns. From the command post three Spartans watch on as the Force Recon forces returned, two of them headed back into the main building to speak with the garrison commander while the last one remained, watching the vehicles and Marines, bruised, battered and beaten beyond reason. After a while she was approached by her teammates “Commander, Colonel Dawes said we’re up” Bodark turns to see her two teammates Obadiah-A047 and Damien-B152 gearing up for the oncoming battle. “What’s the status of the rest of the unit?” she says as she grabs her grenade launcher and magnum and heads to the staging ground. “We got 30 Scorpions raring to go with 20 Gauss Hogs and 30 MG Hogs for support, our boys off the coast said they can send some Wombats for air support from the UNSC Ark off the coast” Obadiah responds as he follows Bodark to the staging ground. “Damien, did you set the mines and charges last night?” Bodark asks as they make their way past the rallying Marines. “Sure did boss, they won’t even know what hit em” Damien says as he grabs his Assault Rifle. As they enter the staging ground, they spot the final member of their team, teal armor and all. He was not in a terrible hurry, though given his height, it was easy to see why. With a AIE-486H machine gun in hand, he reached the group, towering over them, “Hey, what’d I miss?” “We’re moving out, mount up” Bodark says as she passes Alaska and jumps on top of her tank as Obadiah and Damien make their way to their respective tanks After Bodark enters her tank she makes a general announcement over the radio “Listen up Marines, we’re the last line before Cairo, if those Covies want to make it there lets make sure they end up in body bags, get rolling Marines!” ‘Hoorah’ was heard across comms as the tanks came to life, their rumbling engines making the ground shake as they moved out to meet the advancing Covenant lines. 20 miles outside the town, the Covenant lines pushed unopposed through the desert, unbeknownst to them they were being monitored by UNSC Recon teams in the rock formations to their north along with which was an artillery battery ready and waiting for the order to fire. “This is Osiris 1-1 we have eyes on the enemy, 20 miles outside the town and closing” On the other end of the radio was Bodark waiting with her contingent waiting in a lowland in the dunes south of the lines “Copy Osiris, wait for the Wombats to get in the air, then open up” “Copy that” As the line cuts, Bodark begins leading the contingent into forward positions closer to the Covenant lines, stopping only one kilometer away. Before they climb the last dune and into firing positions, Bodark makes the call “Osiris 1-1 bring the rain, Wombats should be crossing overhead by now” Just as she finishes, six Wombat UCAV’s soar over, several massive explosions shredding the Covenant lines as they flew past. “Let’s bust some armor Marines!” Bodark calls across the unit comms as she charges over the dune with the twenty nine other tanks as Warthogs quickly join the push and begin using their MG’s to take out incoming Banshees while Gauss Hogs begin suppressing Ghosts and Revenants. Before the Covenant can respond, they are bombarded by the concealed UNSC artillery scattering their ranks. Taking advantage of the confusion, Bodark leads ten of the Scorpions on a charge so the Covenant struggle in using their Wraiths while the remaining twenty fire off several salvos before following in. The fight quickly devolved from organized ranged fire to point blank gunnery and maneuvering with Scorpions firing at Wraiths with only a few meters between them and Wraiths boosting past them and firing down on their exposed rears. Noticing the change in pace, as she takes out another Wraith, Bodark makes a call on the comms. “Alaska, dismount with the other Marines and whoever’s vehicle is beyond fucked and close the gap on them, take out their guns and start pushing ‘em north to the canyons” “On it!” Alaska replied as he hopped off the Scorpion, with a boost from it exploding, a Wraith landed a direct hit on it. His teal armored bulk gave the Marines some reassurance that this was in their favor. As soon as he was on the ground, the roar of his AIE-486H was a wake-up call to any Covenant forces nearby. With thick smoke from wrecked vehicles, human and alien, Alaska became a nightmarish specter. A glimpse of teal through the smoke, followed by a hail of bullets, killing whatever unlucky alien was in his way. Even for him, it was a slow advance as the smoke made it hard to the Marines to see, leaving the Spartans the only ones truly able to fight effectively. However, the rolling clouds of choking smoke gave the Covenant an advantage as well. The sounds of plasma fired died down, leaving the few UNSC troops surrounded by silence and smoke. “Aw shit.” Alaska muttered as he watched his HUD, it was oddly still aside from his team. Staying fairly motionless, the massive Spartan II shifted his grip on the heavy machine gun. Something about this was bothering him, more than expected. On the comms Bodark contacted Alaska. “Alaska! Get behind the armor, we’re pushing em back” “Workin’ on it!” Alaska shouted as he jumped onto a Scorpion that was still running. As the troops mounted up in what was left of the Warthogs and Scorpions, the UNSC for once began to push Covenant units north toward the rock formations and the coast. “Osiris 1-1 get out of there quick, we’re pushing them toward you” “Copy that” was heard on the comms as the artillery units were hastily packed up and moved toward the coast “Come in UNSC Ark, requesting fire support and CAS to one kilometer north of our position, funnel em into the rocks” As she finishes the call several Wombats redirect themselves and begin bombarding the Covenant forces as they retreat towards the rocks for cover. As the remaining UNSC armor chases the Covenant toward the rock,s the Scorpions stop eight hundred meters short of the rocks as they further rain fire on the Covenant. Seeing them retreat behind and around the rock formations Bodark enacts the final stage of the plan, “Damien set off the charges!” Bodark says as she fires at a fleeing Ghost A massive explosion is seen across the base and upper parts of the formations as they collapse, raining massive rocks and crushing the Covenant, burying them underneath the sand and rubble. As the sand and dust settle all that remained was sand covered husks and corpses of the Covenant units as Marines cheering can be heard as Bodark opens her hatch. But before anything she is contacted by Colonel Dawes, “Excellent work Lt. Commander but you aren’t done yet, this was just the start, you and your unit are heading to Libya, you’ll be fully reinforced within the next 2 days” “Copy that Colonel, Bodark out” “Get a move on Marines, out job ain’t done yet” Bodark says over the comms As the battlescarred and bloodstained UNSC forces returned to the town the desert returned to its deathly silence, with the sands calmed and bodies buried beneath the sand. For the first time in many years, El Alamein became the sight of another bloody and decisive battle in the control of North Africa Category:The Weekly